Saturday, January 31, 2009

I just want to let you all know, I am getting tired of blogging. I learned a lot and had some fun but it's a ton of work.

Anyway, I'm leaning towards killing the blog. What will probably happen is, I'll cut my posts back from 7+ per day to an average of 1 or 2 ... some days I won't post anything ... and then just see how it goes. I may just stop posting altogether ... you know ... unless I get an unanticipated surge of inspiration and/or energy.

With the focus on the economic stimulus package shifting to the Senate, the partisan split evident with the Democrat-only passage of the stimulus bill in the House overshadowed a lot of the discussions on both sides of the aisle today. So much so that various leaders were practically disowning the word bipartisanship as if deadly germs were part of its etymology.

When Mrs. Pelosi was asked whether the vote — 244 to 188 without a single Republican’s approval — represented a failure on her part to advance President Obama’s desire for a broad bipartisan bill, she practically snapped:

“I didn’t come here to be partisan. I didn’t come here to be bipartisan. I came here, as did my colleagues, to be nonpartisan, to work for the American people, to do what is in their interest. More here:

Sure she's non-partisan. Just like Harry Reid, her cohort in the Senate.

And since she's been Speaker, how many Republican bills have been allowed to the house floor for a vote?

And since Reid has been in charge of the Senate, exactly how many times has he allowed an up or down vote when Democrats filibustered judicial nominees?

I'd say that number was exactly the same for both questions - ZERO. Way to be "non-partisan," Nancy. You too, Harry. Always doing what's best for America, in a non-partisan way.

Conversely, prepare for every single Obama nominee (judicial or otherwise) to sail through the Senate. Now we can live with liberal judges for another generation. Perfect.

When the Republicans had the majority, the Democrats filibustered almost every judicial appointee Bush made. So the Republicans were going to change the Senate rules to stop it. Guess what happened. McCain (and his gang of 14) blocked the Republicans from changing the rules. McCain said he got the Democrats to promise to stop filibustering. Result? The Democrats filibustered, the Republicans got very few judicial nominees thru, and now the Democrats are in charge.

I wonder if the Republicans are going to filibuster Obama's nominees. I'm guessing they don't have enough Republicans (unless they ALL stick together) to make a filibuster work. if they do, I give the Dipshitocrats about 2 weeks before they change the rules on the Republicans. Way to go, McCain, you jackass. No wonder you lost.

WASHINGTON – The Republican Party chose the first black national chairman in its history Friday, just shy of three months after the nation elected a Democrat as the first African-American president. The choice marked no less than "the dawn of a new party," declared the new GOP chairman, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Republicans chose Steele over four other candidates, including former President George W. Bush's hand-picked GOP chief, who bowed out declaring, "Obviously the winds of change are blowing."

He vowed to expand the reach of the party by competing for every group, everywhere.

"We're going to say to friend and foe alike: 'We want you to be a part of us, we want you to with be with us.' And for those who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over," Steele said.

"There is not one inch of ground that we're going to cede to anybody," he added.

"This is the dawn of a new party moving in a new direction with strength and conviction."

His job is to spark a revival for the GOP as it takes on an empowered Democratic Party under the country's first black president in the next midterm elections and beyond.

He replaces Mike Duncan, who abandoned his re-election bid in the face of dwindling support midway through Friday's voting. The rest here:

My first inclination is to like this guy. You may recall he was defeated in his bid for a Maryland Senate seat by this doofus, Ben Cardin. By way of a reminder, at that time there was talk of the "Oreo Cookie" incident referencing a 2002 debacle which you can read about here.

Anyway, I hope Michael Steel does good things for conservatives. My hopes are up.

Friday, January 30, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Hardware stores and auto parts shops scored a post-holiday run of business this week as Anchorage-area residents stocked up on protective eyewear and masks ahead of a possible eruption of Mount Redoubt.

Monitoring earthquakes underneath the 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory warned that an eruption was imminent, sending experienced Alaskans shopping for protection against a dusty shower of volcanic ash that could descend on south-central Alaska.

"Every time this happens we do get a run on dust masks and goggles," said Phil Robinson, manager of an Alaska Industrial Hardware store in Anchorage. "That's the two main things for eye and respiratory protection."

On Nov. 5, geologists noted changed emissions and minor melting near the Redoubt summit and raised the threat level from green to yellow. It jumped to orange - the stage just before eruption - on Sunday in response to a sharp increase in earthquake activity below the volcano.

Alaska's volcanoes are not like Hawaii's. "Most of them don't put out the red river of lava," said the observatory's John Power.

Instead, they typically explode and shoot ash 30,000 to 50,000 feet high - more than nine miles - into the jet stream. More here:

In these health-conscious times food companies are increasingly keen to warn consumers if ingredients may cause allergic reactions.

But one firm has gone a step further by advising shoppers that its boxes of eggs contain...egg.

The Happy Egg Company’s six-pack of eggs – which features the company’s name and is decorated with a picture of an egg and a cartoon chicken – contains the message ‘allergy advice: contains egg’ inside the lid of the boxes. More here:

We need MORE government and MORE lawyers and MORE regulations so lawyers can do MORE suing. Keep voting for liberals.

We know we are on a bit of a movie theater kick, but it’s -100 outside and it’s Oscar season. So give us a break, and be happy that the cinema provides such fertile ground for this blog. Case in point: Movie Theater Text Messager.

There you are, trying to enjoy Clint Eastwood grunt his way through Grand Torino, when out of nowhere some ass-burrito pulls out their cell phone and shoots a bright light straight in your eyeball.

Excuse me, but what part of “please turn off your cell phone” doesn’t apply to you texting OMG, WTF and LOL to your besty? Seriously, as if movie theaters weren’t made annoying enough by loud-talkers, seat-kickers, and affectionate couples, you had to go and get all web 2.0 on us. It’s exhausting.

The next time you interrupt our viewing pleasure by sending a pointless text to so-and-so crap head, you’re going to be receiving an entirely different type of message to the face. From here:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government. Excerpts - more at Drudge.

They're going to SAVE. This is the classic liberal argument. Remember, the liberals steal our money and GIVE IT to irresponsible dimwits. Then, they don't make them pay it back or punish them in any way whatsoever. That's right, it's free money to idiots -- from YOU. So she's saying that you will have to give less money to irresponsible dimwits if they just implement their plan. Well, they're implementing plans all the time but do they ever take less of your money? Are the irresponsible dimwits learning? Is this situation getting better or worse. You make the call.

In the thick of party conflict in 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter, "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

This powerful advocate of liberty was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia, inheriting from his father, a planter and surveyor, some 5,000 acres of land, and from his mother, a Randolph, high social standing. He studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow, and took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home, Monticello.

Freckled and sandy-haired, rather tall and awkward, Jefferson was eloquent as a correspondent, but he was no public speaker. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen rather than his voice to the patriot cause. As the "silent member" of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence. In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.

Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785. His sympathy for the French Revolution led him into conflict with Alexander Hamilton when Jefferson was Secretary of State in President Washington's Cabinet. He resigned in 1793.

Sharp political conflict developed, and two separate parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, began to form. Jefferson gradually assumed leadership of the Republicans, who sympathized with the revolutionary cause in France. Attacking Federalist policies, he opposed a strong centralized Government and championed the rights of states.

As a reluctant candidate for President in 1796, Jefferson came within three votes of election. Through a flaw in the Constitution, he became Vice President, although an opponent of President Adams. In 1800 the defect caused a more serious problem. Republican electors, attempting to name both a President and a Vice President from their own party, cast a tie vote between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives settled the tie. Hamilton, disliking both Jefferson and Burr, nevertheless urged Jefferson's election.

When Jefferson assumed the Presidency, the crisis in France had passed. He slashed Army and Navy expenditures, cut the budget, eliminated the tax on whiskey so unpopular in the West, yet reduced the national debt by a third. He also sent a naval squadron to fight the Barbary pirates, who were harassing American commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, although the Constitution made no provision for the acquisition of new land, Jefferson suppressed his qualms over constitutionality when he had the opportunity to acquire the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803.

During Jefferson's second term, he was increasingly preoccupied with keeping the Nation from involvement in the Napoleonic wars, though both England and France interfered with the neutral rights of American merchantmen. Jefferson's attempted solution, an embargo upon American shipping, worked badly and was unpopular.

Jefferson retired to Monticello to ponder such projects as his grand designs for the University of Virginia. A French nobleman observed that he had placed his house and his mind "on an elevated situation, from which he might contemplate the universe."

WASHINGTON — Without a single Republican vote,President Obama won House approval on Wednesday for an $819 billion economic recovery plan as Congressional Democrats sought to temper their own differences over the enormous package of tax cuts and spending.

...

All but 11 Democrats voted for the plan, and 177 Republicans voted against it. The 244-to-188 vote came a day after Mr. Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to seek Republican backing, if not for the package then on other issues to come.

I'm not at all certain that there are any adjectives that do the event justice, but "astounding," "flabbergasting," and "utterly astonishing" come close.

Note, incidentally, the tiny little wiggle at the year 2000. That represents the Y2K monetary expansion, judged huge at the time. There are plenty of people who would argue that the Fed's efforts to shrink the money supply afterwards—that is, Greenspan's mopping up operation—burst the high-tech bubble, causing the last downturn. How will the Fed mop up after this expansion?

If the money supply continues to expand, prices begin to rise, especially if output growth reaches capacity limits. As the public begins to expect inflation, lenders insist on higher interest rates to offset an expected decline in purchasing power over the life of their loans.

Have you heard anything in the media about inflation concerns? Of course not. Later on, the libs and the media will all pretend they're very shocked. They'll say, "Well, if only so and so hadn't happened we wouldn't have all this inflation ... oh, the bad luck that is ours ... nobody could have seen this coming ... the only answer is MORE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION and to vote for more Democrats"

I took the excerpt below from here. A nice synopsis. Not too complicated but still covers the essentials. I edited it just a small bit.

Why do we have to manage the money supply?

Lets assume the money supply is held constant. Economic output is constantly expanding, (efficiencies/more people are born and doing more work) so if money supply is held constant, this means that prices have to go down (deflation). Less money available for everyone means the value of your money goes up. Deflation shuts an economy down as investment drys up because just holding onto your money will increase its value by not doing anything. And if you borrow money to invest, you owe more as time goes on (since money is increasing in value.) So deflation is to be avoided. In order to avoid this, the money supply must grow at the same rate as economic output. If velocity is constant, and growth in output = the growth in supply then prices will stay constant.

The opposite happens when the money supply grows too quickly. It causes inflation as there are now more dollars per unit of real resources. However, a little bit of inflation is considered to be better then a little bit of deflation, so central banks generally err on the side of inflation (and for right or wrong, there is a temptation for idiots/politicians wanting to get elected to inflate the money supply to temporarily boost the economy at the expense of long term inflation)

In simpler terms, if the money supply does not grow, but output does, then there will be fewer dollars per unit of real economic resources, and the value of each dollar then becomes worth more. The result is, that prices go down, requiring less dollars. But even though this might sound good, as explained this shuts an economy down because investment dries up.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Two men released from the US "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported.

One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official told AFP.

Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al-Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner No. 333.

The Defense Department has said as many as 61 former Guantanamo detainees -- about 11 percent of 520 detainees transferred from the detention center and released -- are believed to have returned to the fight. The rest here:

A Las Vegas toddler was pulled from the jaws of an 18-foot-long, 300 lb snake. "That was the only thing I was thinking was I need to try and save this kid's life," neighbor Marlo Vinson said. Vinson was the first neighbor in the apartment complex to try and help the toddler's mother free him from the snake's grasp.

"That's when I saw the 3-year-old on his knees with the snake constricted around him," Metro's Sergeant Steve Custer explained. "I've been a police officer for 36 years and I've never seen anything like this ever."

Custer was one of the first officers on scene. "It's the biggest thing I've ever seen, with a big old head and it's angry and it's hissing."

The toddler's mother said that while she was in the bathroom, her son entered the bedroom where the snake was being kept. "The snake bit him, right here like in the armpit," said Custer. "

The boy's mother stabbed the giant python 17 times until it released him. Moments later, police arrived. "So we're thinking maybe it's dead, so we crack the door and look in there... oh, here's this big old snake," explained Custer.

The half a dozen officers decided to wait for animal control. "We're trying to get that little hook on the snake and finally we get it on there and then the fight is on," Custer continued. "It was incredible, we were rolling around on the bed on the floor back and forth every body has a piece of the snake." Because of its injuries, animal control was forced to put the tiger python down. At this time, authorities are still deciding whether or not to file child endangerment charges against the 3-year-old's mother.

You want to see the "objective media" slobber all over Obama? The only thing I'm surprised at is nobody offered to blow him. Probably too many people around. They'll wait until it's a little more private. Seriously, this is disgusting.

At about the three-minute mark, one of them says "I just want to say it again ... 'Mr President.'" (Wretch)

Also, remember when the Republicans controlled both house of congress and the media constantly put Democrats on their shows? Every single day, all day. Well, I wonder how many Republicans they'll have on now. I doubt you'll see one a week, and then, when you DO see one, it'll be some jackass with a TV evangelist haircut.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement over the weekend noting that the stimulus bill wending its way through Congress provides $4.19 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities." He said the money was previously limited to state and local governments, but that Democrats now want part of it to be available to non-profit entities. That means groups like ACORN would be eligible for a portion of the funds.

There is 50 Million dollars also for the National Endowment for the Arts. Oh yea thats going to really help to create jobs.

Kirstin Brost, a spokeswoman for Rep. Dave Obey, (D-Wis.), House Appropriations Committee Chairman, defended the proposed funding to the NEA. "Artists need jobs just like everyone else," Brost said. "Fifty million out of $825 billion doesn't seem like an extreme amount to support our artists."

What other crap is attached to this Stimulus package?

"It's just a long list of spending items. Not a real economic stimulus job creation bill," Vitter said. "It's line after line after line of favorite liberal spending programs, and it amounts to a big government bill -- not a job creation bill."

We all know that President Barack Obama has assumed the presidency at a time when that pressure cooker of a job is even more so right now because of the worst recession since the Great Depression and two foreign wars.So Mad Magazine's new Obama cover spoofs the notion of the president's first 100 days but accelerates it to his first "100 minutes."The caricature shows a completely stressed-out Obama puffing on several cancer sticks simultaneously as he holds his head in his hands. (That's what happens when the world knows your're a reformed smoker who admits to occasional lapses.) An open bottle of Pepto Bismol is on the desk, as is a bottle of Excedrin.Meanwhile, splayed out on the desk before Obama are newspapers (including the Chicago Tribune!) with blaring headlines like "Automakers Broke!" "Taliban Threat!" and "Dow Crashes!"The only thing the artist missed was the chance to take a swipe at the president for those those Alfred E. Newman ears of his. Talk about your low-hanging fruit.Separately, Mad will have a lot fewer cracks at Obama. DC Comics, Mad's publisher, has announced that the magazine will be published on a quarterly basis instead of monthly, thanks to the economy and the advertising revenue woes afflicting the entire media industry.

Washington DC, Jan 27th 2009: NASA warming scientist James Hansen, one of former Vice-President Al Gore’s closest allies in the promotion of man-made global warming fears, is being publicly rebuked by his former supervisor at NASA.

Retired senior NASA atmospheric scientist, Dr. John S. Theon, the former supervisor of James Hansen, NASA’s vocal man-made global warming fear soothsayer, has now publicly declared himself a skeptic and declared that Hansen “embarrassed NASA” with his alarming climate claims and said Hansen was “was never muzzled.” Theon joins the rapidly growing ranks of international scientists abandoning the promotion of man-made global warming fears.

“I appreciate the opportunity to add my name to those who disagree that global warming is man made,” Theon wrote to the Minority Office at the Environment and Public Works Committee on January 15, 2009. “I was, in effect, Hansen’s supervisor because I had to justify his funding, allocate his resources, and evaluate his results,”

Theon declared “climate models are useless.” “My own belief concerning anthropogenic climate change is that the models do not realistically simulate the climate system because there are many very important sub-grid scale processes that the models either replicate poorly or completely omit,” Theon explained. “Furthermore, some scientists have manipulated the observed data to justify their model results. In doing so, they neither explain what they have modified in the observations, nor explain how they did it. They have resisted making their work transparent so that it can be replicated independently by other scientists. This is clearly contrary to how science should be done. Thus there is no rational justification for using climate model forecasts to determine public policy,” he added.

In a development sure to upset the global warming nuts, the Western Part of Lake Superior (near Duluth) has frozen over during the month of December, for the first time in almost two decades. Early Ice has also closed the Madeline Island Ferry Line in December, the first time it’s closed in December since 1985. Now if you ask the Al Gore types, they will tell you that Global Warming has caused the global cooling.

The object of the game is to sink the big block through the small square hole. You move the block around with your arrow keys. Just go through the instructions before you start and you'll capisky the deal.

There is no time limit and you can save your game for later. This is where level seven starts. I was going to give up in the middle of a level (when it started getting harder) but I couldna. I MUST WIN !! So I got through level six and stopped. I saved my passcode so I might go back for more later.

PHILADELPHIA — About 1 percent of Web sites indexed by Google and Microsoft are sexually explicit, according to a U.S. government-commissioned study.

Government lawyers introduced the study in court this month as the Justice Department seeks to revive the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, which required commercial Web sites to collect a credit card number or other proof of age before allowing Internet users to view material deemed "harmful to minors."

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the law in 2004, ruling it also would cramp the free speech rights of adults to see and buy what they want on the Internet. The court said technology such as filtering software may work better than such laws. The rest here:

Climate realists around the world have contended for years that the real goal of alarmists such as Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his followers is to use the fear of man-made global warming to redistribute wealth.

On Monday, one of Gore's leading scientific resources, Goddard Institute for Space Studies chief James Hansen, sent a letter to Barack and Michelle Obama specifically urging the president-elect to enact a tax on carbon emissions that would take money from higher-income Americans and distribute the proceeds to the less fortunate.

What? I thought this guy was a "scientist." I thought he was just interested in measuring things and reporting. Sure, he was the same guy who was behind the global-cooling scam in the 70's but I thought he was only interested in "science."

Turns out, he's not. He's interested in politics and taxing ... VERY interested. Here's an excerpt of his letter to Barack Obama.

A rising carbon price is essential to “decarbonize” the economy, i.e., to move the nation toward the era beyond fossil fuels. The most effective way to achieve this is a carbon tax (on oil, gas, and coal) at the well-head or port of entry. The tax will then appropriately affect all products and activities that use fossil fuels. The public’s near-term, mid-term, and long-term lifestyle choices will be affected by knowledge that the carbon tax rate will be rising.

Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama's first administration, he added

Hansen - head of the Goddard Institute of Space Studies and winner of the WWF's top conservation award - first warned Earth was in danger from climate change in 1988 and has been the victim of several unsuccessful attempts by the White House administration of George Bush to silence his views. The rest here:

Yes, the Bush administration silenced his views. That's why we hear this crap every single day on the news ... it's all that "silencing." Keep going broke, mainstream media.

I love how the totally honest, fair, and "objective" jourrrrnalasses are always sure to include only the information they want you to have all the pertinent information so the sheep doesn't stray from the flock reader makes a well informed decision

NASA bureaucrat James Hansen, who has been making a pretty penny by helping Al Gore prop up the global warming hoax, is a veteran of the global cooling hoax popular in the 1970s.

Making a pretty penny? This is what this guy does for a living (and now, so does Al Gore.) If he wasn't constantly spewing this crap, he'd be out of a job. I mean, what is he going to say ... "everything's ok with the climate" ... then, six months later "everything's ok with the climate." He'd lose his job.

The REALLY surprising thing is he hasn't lost his job after crowing about global cooling and then switching to global warming. The reason is, this is the biggest opportunity to tax you since the country was founded. And now the "people" have voted the Democrats in. Prepare your doom. Prepare for new rules that will rival the IRS tax code in your ability to understand and follow.

The worst part? Once implemented, it will never be dismantled. Even when they prove global warming is a hoax, they won't dismantle it. They'll rename it "environmental" something and leave the tax there.

Why? Because, very simply, taxing gives the government power. Power to hire their buddies in executive positions in all the new bureaucracies. Power to drive business to their buddies in the corporations that will support the "business" of climate change. In the end, taxing is 90% of the power of politicians.

Ever notice? The libs are always saving something (except your wallet.) Save the mountains, save the whales, save the rivers, save the polar bears, save, save, save ... and somehow, it can't be saved unless they get money from the government (you.) This "saving" was always a step bigger and a step bigger, until now, it's the planet itself. The idea has been brought to the pinnacle of its natural liberal outcome ... control everyone and everything ... exactly what our founding fathers fought against. Yes, there were libs back then too ... just not as many because we weren't as politically correct back then and we would ridicule them with abandon. Back then, libs were actually susceptible to humiliation.

Investor’s Business Daily reports that a 1971 Washington Post scare piece entitled “U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming” fretted that burning fossil fuels discharges particles into the atmosphere that reflect the sun’s rays back into space. Emissions over 5–10 years supposedly “could be sufficient to trigger an ice age.”

The NASA research behind this hysteria was supported by a “computer program developed by Dr. James Hansen,” the same guy who now refers to those who won’t drink the global warming Kool-Aid as “court jesters.” From Moonbattery:

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Mayor Sam Adams, who has admitted lying about a sexual relationship with a teenager, said Sunday that he would not resign.A city commissioner, Randy Leonard, told The Associated Press that Mr. Adams had left a phone message in the morning saying he had decided to remain in office.The Oregonian’s editorial page has called for his resignation, as have three smaller Portland newspapers and the police union.Mr. Adams is being investigated by the Oregon attorney general. The case has divided the city, including its gay and lesbian community, although Mr. Adams has found strong support to remain, including a rally Friday on his behalf at City Hall that drew more than 400 people.Last week, Mr. Adams publicly apologized for lying about the sexual relationship he had with an 18-year-old man in 2005.The man, Beau Breedlove, has said he did not have sex with the mayor until he was 18, even though they met when Mr. Breedlove was 17.Mr. Breedlove, now 21, told The Oregonian on Saturday he had kissed Mr. Adams twice when he was 17 and welcomed the romantic interest. The statements contradicted Mr. Adams’s claim that he had told Mr. Breedlove he was not interested in a relationship at the time.But Mr. Breedlove again said that he did not have sex with Mr. Adams before he was 18 and that the relationship was consensual. He also said he considered himself an adult before he turned 18.“I do not see any relationship that I ever had with Sam as me being taken advantage of,” Mr. Breedlove told the newspaper. “I do not feel like I was ever a victim.”(Mayor ADAMS is 45 yoa)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished: January 25, 2009 Copied from NY TIMES web page

I believe the Klown is on to something, I read this article along with three other articles from various new services (TV & Print) and never saw his party affiliation. I found it on a conservative web site and he is a democrat. (go figure) How soon do you think they would have mentioned his party if he were a Repub?PS I do not care about his sexual preferences, it just goes on to prove the Klown has made an accurate observation about party affiliation and politicians in trouble.

Indian Winter Forecast:It was already late fall and the Indians on a remote reservation in South Dakota asked their new chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.Since he was a chief in a modern society he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like.Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.But being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, 'Is the coming winter going to be cold?' 'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold,' the meteorologist at the weather service responded.So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again. 'Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?''Yes,' the man at National Weather Service again replied, 'it's going to be a very cold winter.'The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.Two weeks later the chief called the National Weather Service again. 'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?''Absolutely,' the man replied. 'It's looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters we've ever seen.' 'How can you be so sure?' the chief asked.The weatherman replied, 'The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy.'Always remember this whenever you get advice from a government official!!!!!!!

Reporting from Ridgefield, Wash. -- John Foley figures he has pretty much maxed out on explaining to African American mothers why it's OK to call a black man the N-word -- as long as it's in a novel that is considered a classic.

"The time has arrived to update the literature we use in high school classrooms," Foley wrote in a guest column this month for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States, and novels that use the 'N-word' repeatedly need to go."

Foley, 48, teaches at a largely white suburban high school near Portland, Ore. Year after year, he said, he patiently explains to his students that Jim, a black man, is actually the hero of the novel, and that Huck comes to see the error of his ways and commits to helping Jim escape slavery. But many of them find the book dull and plodding, and they sometimes never get past the demeaning word Huck uses to refer to his friend.

"This is particularly true, of course, of African American students," Foley wrote. "With few exceptions, all the black students in my classes over the years have appeared very uncomfortable when I've discussed these matters at the beginning of the unit. And I never want to rationalize 'Huck Finn' to an angry African American mom again as long as I breathe."

He also thinks "To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee's classic about racial inequity in the Deep South, and John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" should be removed from the curriculum for similar reasons.

Foley had wanted to talk to the staff at Ridgefield High School about his proposal, but after his op-ed was published, it was as though a stink bomb had landed in a crowded room.

"Obama would be horrified if he knew this censorship was done in his name," wrote Trudy J. Sundberg, a retired teacher of American literature from Oak Harbor, Wash. Her response to Foley's column was just one in a barrage of letters and e-mails that the newspaper received.

"What an amazingly stupid teacher this is," another reader wrote. "There is nothing in American literature that more succinctly and directly attacks racial prejudice than Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' This is another teacher anxious to pursue political correctness more than seek to understand what is involved in truly 'reading' a book." The rest here:

Nah, I'm with Foley. Give up trying to teach a bunch of genius ingrates. Just forget it. Why deal with "irate African-American moms?"I mean, Mark Twain was nothing but a racist jackass anyway ... same for Harper and Steinbeck. Let's all just get past this, shall we?

There's a log on the table and something jumps off the log and onto the guy. The guy is prolly already nervous cuz of the snake and this sets him off. He performs a great "Brown-Out." I had to keep backing it up and watching it (about ten times) cuz I think he began to have trouble breathing for a second. He makes a good comeback though.

What's missing here is where a thoughful video editor splices in several retakes of the critical moment at the end. Sheesh, standards are getting low.

Lyndon Johnson once remarked that: "Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it." Abraham Lincoln's presidency epitomizes this sentiment.

Today, Lincoln is considered one of America's greatest leaders. Two of his speeches - the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address - are among the most revered in the country's history. So great is our appreciation that the words of his second inaugural address are etched in stone on the walls of his memorial in Washington, D.C. However, this present-day adulation was not widely held in 1861.

Lincoln's physical attributes, including his extraordinary six-foot-four-inch height, large hands, over-sized ears, prominent nose and ungainly gate, provided easy targets for ridicule. His lack of formal education (he spent only one year in school) supplied his detractors the ammunition to attack his intelligence and deride his mental abilities.

These negative attitudes subsided during the course of Lincoln's first administration. By the end of his first term he began to receive credit for his leadership during the nation's most troubling time. This reversal of attitude is reflected in the fact that he was elected to a second term - a feat that had not been accomplished by eight previous Presidents. His popularity was such that many newspapers predicted he would be elected for an unprecedented third term in 1868. However, Lincoln had to suffer through a "hailstorm" of criticism through much of his first term.

The clause in the last paragraph, "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan," was later adopted by the Veterans Administration (now the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) as its mission statement.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, Common Good Chair Philip K. Howard argues that President Obama’s calls for a "‘new era of responsibility’" and self-determination are inhibited by “[t]he growth of litigation and regulation [that] has injected a paralyzing uncertainty into everyday choices.” “We have lost the idea, at every level of social life, that people can grab hold of a problem and fix it,” Howard writes. “Defensiveness has swept across the country like a cold wave. We have become a culture of rule followers, trained to frame every solution in terms of existing law or possible legal risk. The person of responsibility is replaced by the person of caution. When in doubt, don't.” What’s needed, he argues, is a new conception of freedom, one that includes not only political freedom, but also “the power of personal conviction and the authority to use your common sense.” We have forgotten “that law must affirmatively define an area free from legal interference.”

Copied from Commongood.org I found it to be very interesting, and I do believe that the Lawyers have so muddled the system it may never be fixed. They are in part responsible for many of our current problems. I have said this many times, do not elect any Attorneys to any office and that way you keep the thieves from continuing to f**k up our Country more.This is but a tidbit from the post.

I just got notified that there's an update to the cool iris plug-in for firefox so I tried it out. If you have firefox, I highly recommend this plug-in. You can use it for browsing news, pictures, tv shows, movies and more. What's cool about browsing videos is that you can watch the video without following a link. I know- big deal. Anyway, check it.

This is what the interface looks like when you launch it from this blog (click to enlarge):

Here's a sample image that I found while searching news. (again, Click to enlarge).Here's the sample image I fixed in photoshop. I didn't realize there was a half-clothed woman in the original. (Click to enlarge).

I'm Kris, a member of IVAW whom you've got a video of posted on your youtube channel. I'd like to request that you remove it from the internet, because I find it to be incomplete, out of context, and legally damaging to me the way that it is posted.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow bashed competitor Fox News at a Television Critics Association gathering Thursday before she told a small group of reporters she's "never seen a show on Fox at any time ever.”

When a critic compares MSNBC with Fox News, Maddow bristles.

“The idea that there’s any equivalency between us and Fox News...” she says. “Fox is a political experiment. Imagine them having somebody as liberal as Joe Scarborough is conservative doing their whole morning? It doesn't make sense." What? A liberal trying to make sense? Get outta the way ... something is gonna BLOW!!!!

"We're less about ideology than Fox News," adds the news network’s president Phil Griffin.

Yet after the panel, Maddow told a huddle of reporters she doesn’t own a TV and has “never seen a show on Fox at any time ever.”

I guess she knows because she's clairvoyant ... either that or she listens to the mainstream media ... you know ... like ALL the liberals ... she's a clairvoyant genius.

I stick closer to blogs from which I can learn. Here are the results for "Best Conservative Blog."

In my opinion, Ace of Spades and Little Green Footballs are among the best conservative blogs. Ace is hysterical most of the time so I'll have to give him the edge there, but barely. I'll also give a mention to Hot Air because I enjoy it also. Michelle Malkin has a popup so ... nay. The others I haven't spent much time on, although, I did check out Small Dead Animals ... wasn't impressed. Google it yourself if you care ... don't blame me. I might have to check out "Atlas Shrugs."

As Micha Wyatt plans an inaugural bash at the Chicago Rib Shack in London, she is basking in the new warmth toward Americans overseas.

It's cool to be an American again, Wyatt said. "Finally! I'm tired of pretending I'm Canadian."

From Jakarta to Johannesburg, Americans who travel or live abroad are finding that instead of being scolded about the Iraq war, the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or U.S. climate change policy, they are being hugged when strangers hear their accent.

"People would question me: 'Where are the weapons of mass destruction? What is America doing?' " said Wyatt, 38, a San Francisco native who said she does not align herself with any party but comes from a Republican family.

Since Barack Obama's election, she said, people want to hang out at American parties and talk about the latest news from Washington: "There is a buzz about America now."

So there was a huge "protest," about Gaza, in San Francisco recently. Oh yes ... hard to believe, I know. Perhaps someone dropped a hat.

Anyway -- the Zombiewas there to capture all the action for our endless entertainment. Following are some excerpted pics and commentary from the Zombie. You can click this link to see the rest -- and there's plenty more to see.

After the rally, a few thousand people joined the march through downtown San Francisco; because the counter-protesting Israel supporters decided to not go on the march, every single one of the marchers was anti-Israel -- except for this one guy, who tailed along on the sidewalk carrying what I thought was the most interesting sign of the day.

And yet, with all the flag burning and screaming and traffic-blocking and menacing chants, can you guess who was the only protester to be stopped by police and ordered to leave? That's right -- the single anti-Hamas protester. Figures. The police's given reason, naturally, was that he should leave "for his own protection" and that he shouldn't incite the crowd by expressing a reasonable opinion. Nothing so enrages an unreasonable crowd as a reasonable opinion!

Meanwhile, protesters who openly supported the terrorist organization Hamas and waved the Hamas flag (as seen above) received no warnings at all about inciting the crowd. Which sharply highlights a depressing truth: If you express an opinion, no matter how wrongheaded, you are safe from criticism if enough people share it with you; but if you express an opinion, no matter how insightful, you will be penalized if you stand all alone.

What's so bad about Jews supporting Hamas? Well, for starters, here are some quotes from the Hamas charter:

Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. ... The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the jews."

(Paraphrasing the Zombie) She's probably fully aware of the harsh shari'a regime of Hamas ... under which homosexuality or "gender transgression" of any kind brings an immediate death sentence.Yes, that's right, she's a queer genius.

Also, this protest was organized (and mostly financed by) the communist group "ANSWER." It seems a great many "protests" are organized/financed by ANSWER. It also seems a great many of the "protesters" are the same people. That is, many of the same people show up to protest different causes. That's because they do it for a living.

The funniest part is, the people involved know it, the media knows it, but the media never mentions it. I guess, if they did, everyone would realize it's mostly a sham and then lose interest. If that happened, the media wouldn't be able to attract interest in their coverage and therefore they would lose advertising revenue.

Oh, Here's a little info on "ANSWER" for you:

The pro-communist group, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, or ANSWER, has done it again. In announcing another anti-Iraq demonstration, this one on September 24, the group managed to trick the media into thinking that ANSWER is a mainstream protest organization that is comprised of ordinary Americans. But ANSWER was more honest this time around. In its email message announcing its June 1 news conference at the National Press Club, the group urged the attendance of “antiwar activists, students, communist organizers, unionists and those working for progressive change and social justice:” Did you notice the inclusion of “communist organizers.”

Communists are more than included. They are helping run the thing. One of them, key organizer Brian Becker, is a member of the communist Workers World Party and is frequently quoted in the press. But his communist past is almost always carefully omitted.

Even more interesting than the attendance of the “communist organizers” was the coverage by the press. ANSWER says its press conference was reported in more than 100 media outlets, including the Washington Post, CBS Radio, Associated Press, UPI (United Press International), and AFP (Agence France-Presse). Thanks, objective jourrrrnal-asses, for hiding the fact that these are communists, because ... you know ... that's not important.

And where does ANSWER get their money? I'm guessing from multiple sources, depending on the "cause" with George Soros being near the top. ANSWER is out protesting all kinds of causes (and they use many of the same idiots to carry their signs. Just look at the signs -- handwriting is the same on many.) Here's what one commenter on Zombie's blog said:

I’m also struck by the fact that ANSWER, the Stalinist front group, sponsors these demonstrations all across America. It costs tens of thousands of bucks to sponsor such a demonstration, about $50,000 for five or ten thousand marchers. It must take a million bucks to sponsor simultaneous pro-Hamas demonstrations in big cities across America, even if leveraged by willing Muslims to man them. Where does ANSWER get that money? A Congressional investigator who has examined such radical organizations says no large protest organization exists without foreign support. ANSWER refuses to disclose their financial patrons, with good reason. My guess is that in this case it is the Saudis.

"Protest organizations?" Gee, I thought the "protests" were just regular people trying to get their voices heard ... didn't you?Anyway, thanks again to the Zombie.